In the mid 1790s, 23 year-old James Montgomery, a devout Moravian newspaperman in Sheffield England, was twice imprisoned because authorities feared that his liberalism and criticism of local officials might breed trouble. He took advantage of his incarceration to write a book, Prison Amusements, which he published as soon as he was released and had returned to his newspaper. The success of the one book started him and his paper, the Iris, on the road to such popularity that before long he became one of Sheffield's leading citizens. He published many hymns, including "Angels from the Realms of Glory," which he wrote for the Christmas Eve edition of the Iris in 1816, and which was republished in the Christian Psalmist in 1825. Some years later, a London organist, Henry Smart, wrote the music to which we now sing Montgomery's words.
"Carol of the Bells" by Country Chorale
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